A glass of wine every night?

Completely fine and normal in my opinion, some of the responses here make me laugh, it's not a 'slippery slope' for everyone, in the real world plenty of people can have a glass a day without becoming alcoholics, just as they can enjoy a few pieces of chocolate a day without becoming morbidly obese. Life is for living and we are all going to die sooner or later - yes it's important to pay attention to health overall but it's also a balance. If you don't enjoy alcohol or have decided to abstain for health reasons then good for you, but it's not going to guarantee you a longer life than someone enjoying a glass a day so no need to make others feel guilty in order to justify your own choices!

You said you drank a bottle a night, that is an alcohol problem. We all struggled during covid that is no excuse. With respect, your minimising it and excusing it contributes to the problem.

Your first two sentences really are quite contradictory.

Jesus people cannot have objective conversations about this at all can they.

but this isn't a random "do people drink too much in the UK?" is it..

You are sharing personal testimony about your alcohol intake - so what do you mean by "objective"?

The op has had an alcohol problem in the past. It would not seem a good idea to drink every day, one glass will soon escalate if anything stressful occurs though tbh most people don't need a reason.

Dont the French do this?

I’m very bemused by this, I do not track you across threads, I couldn’t even tell you if I’ve even read a post by you, and I don’t even recognise your user name. This thread is not about you and my post was not aimed at you specifically,

and my point stands.

You need to do more with your day.

Mitchell and Webb's 'slightly less than two drinks' sketch:

I know. I recently lost a family member to oesophageal cancer - they were in their early 50’s and had recently cut down on their drinking - they’d drink most days, one or two and sometimes more if on a night out/holiday. Had a very active lifestyle, hill walking, cycling etc, and a lucrative career. It was a very sudden diagnosis and a quick death. May not have been related to alcohol at all but I guess we’ll never ever know.

Blimey. Just read the link you gave and I did not know this. Not bothered enough by the odd glass to risk this!

"Around 1 in 10 breast cancer cases are caused by drinking alcohol, that’s about 4,400 cases a year. The risk of breast cancer is increased even if you drink at low levels.".

I MAY actually live here!

The op has just said she used to do a bottle a night. Currently a glass a night but I'd guess it could very easy swing in the opposite direction again.

Op, you've had a very unhealthy relationship with booze in the past, you are playing with fire imo.

Find other treats and rewards such as chocolate or a nice dessert.

It’s 1/4 bottle per night. I would add in two alcohol free days per week to reduce your overall intake.

My gran drank strong homemade wine every night for decades and died at 100

think she pickled herself to last longer😂

And so is type 2 diabetes, and the horrible complications from it.

Visiting Europe and observing what others around you do has little bearing on what Southern Europeans actually do in their own everyday weekday lives. If you are visiting Europe you're a visitor. Hence you will probably be on holiday, and we all know that holidays are exactly the occasions that peope cut back on their alcohol intake, don't we? 🤔Even if you're a teetotaller out and about in S Europe, then just the fact that you're out and about in bars and restaurants mean that the locals around you are too. I don't think it's out of the ordinary to like to drink wine if you're out socially with friends and family.

You MAY be visiting S Europe to stay with friends or family. Well, those are the exact social occasions when people may crack open a bottle of wine, because it's a special family or friends dinner.

You MAY be visiting on business. In which case wine will often be involved with entertaining clients or visiting colleagues over a business dinner.

Ask your ordinary every day modern Southern Europeans, living in the city with jobs, cooking normal dinners within their household daily, if they drink wine every single day they are at home without guests and I would be very surprised if their answer is yes. If they do, they're likely to be older.

A doctor advised me that it's beneficial to have at least 3 consecutive alcohol-free days a week. I don't know how scientific that is, but it's an effective way of reducing overall intake.

@JacquesHarlow No mental gymnastics required at all!

The OP enquired about “one glass a night”, not “I may as well finish the bottle” or “I am a couch potato who only eats junk food.”

She hasn’t told us about the rest of her life at all so it seems YOU are the one doing the Mental (in both senses) Gymnastics in the Hyperbole Olympics with your 100m sprint from one glass to a whole bottle each night.

PS I am not on the sofa, btw. I’m in bed. Looking forward to a glass of Malbec later after a two hour Pilates class. Hic 🍷

No it doesn't.

And if you are a healthy weight, eat well, have no significant health issues....how much harm is a glass going to do.

This. Alcohol is addictive i think we all know that.

Just have a few booze free nights a week and have a glass as a treat.

People always underplay the amount they drink though. So I'd guess your only one glass a night is sometimes 2. Sometimes 3 if it's a birthday, sometimes 4 if it's Christmas etc etc.

Imo daily drinking is not a good baseline to have. No drinking is, with an odd couple of glasses here and there.

Exactly. I posted the link to the cancer research site. I have a high level of fitness and a balanced diet. I don’t smoke or drink. I am trying to do my best to minimise my own risk of cancer (I said minimise, not prevent. I am well aware none of this makes me immune). I was unaware of the link between alcohol and cancer until quite recently. I stopped drinking for other reasons and now I’m glad I did and if anyone finds that statement triggering, then perhaps they need to take a good look at their own lifestyle.